Artiholicshttps://artiholics.com
Artwork From Around The World, From The Eye Of An ArtistTue, 19 Mar 2019 01:05:57 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=5.0.4AI WEIWEI OFFERS TO BUY TONS OF BUTTONS FROM A UK FACTORYhttps://artiholics.com/2019/03/09/ai-weiwei-offers-to-buy-tons-of-buttons-from-a-uk-factory/
https://artiholics.com/2019/03/09/ai-weiwei-offers-to-buy-tons-of-buttons-from-a-uk-factory/#respondSat, 09 Mar 2019 15:04:07 +0000https://artiholics.com/?p=14800A Brown & Co Buttons is a factory in Croydon, South London specializing in plastic, metal, glass, pearl and olive wood buttons and wooden toggles. The company has been in existence for the past 100 years and has been making huge sales ever since. Unfortunately, the company is closing down due to a slump in …

A Brown & Co
Buttons is a factory in Croydon, South London specializing in plastic, metal, glass,
pearl and olive wood buttons and wooden toggles. The company has been in existence
for the past 100 years and has been making huge sales ever since. Unfortunately,
the company is closing down due to a slump in sales.

The owner of the family-run company Stuart Brown, was afraid that the “hundreds of thousands” of unsold buttons in the warehouse which could have fetched around $1.9million would have to be thrown out. Amy Clare Tasker made an online appeal on behalf of the company last week and tweeted: COSTUME DESIGNERS: I’ve been asked to share this call to save buttons from landfill. Brown & Co Buttons (a 104 year-old button factory in Croydon) needs to dispose of 30 tons of buttons as the factory is shutting down.” The tweet has been shared 5,219 times and there are suggestions for the buttons to go to schools to be used in art classes.

Ai Weiwei Photo by Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

Ai Weiwei a Chinese contemporary artist and activist used social media to express his interest in taking the hundreds of thousands of unsold buttons being offered by the company. Ai is best known for his vast works in visual arts including sculptural installations, woodworking video, photography, ceramics, Lego and inflatable rubber; his interest in the buttons could possibly mean that he is developing an interest in textile art. He responded to Tasker’s tweet asking, “Can I have them all?” In 2010, Ai created sunflower seeds and filled Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall with 100 million hand-crafted porcelain sunflower seeds. Could it be that Ai wants to create similar works with the buttons?

Photo courtesy of internet

Photo courtesy of Internet

Ai is however not the
only artist who expressed her interest in the buttons, another artist, Delaine
Derry Green who uses buttons in her pattern-based artworks also expressed her
interest in them.

Sarah Janalli, the factory owner’s sister-in-law whose contact details were included in Tasker’s tweet responded to the floods of responses saying, “Thank you so much. The responses have been overwhelming and we can’t cope with any more enquiries but SUCCESS! No buttons will go to landfill.”

It is yet to be known
whether the company has responded to the interest of Ai or of Delaine but the
negotiations between Ai and the company are ongoing.

]]>https://artiholics.com/2019/03/09/ai-weiwei-offers-to-buy-tons-of-buttons-from-a-uk-factory/feed/0DERRY NOYES TURNS KELLY’S ARTWORKS INTO STAMPShttps://artiholics.com/2019/03/01/derry-noyes-turns-kellys-artworks-into-stamps/
https://artiholics.com/2019/03/01/derry-noyes-turns-kellys-artworks-into-stamps/#respondFri, 01 Mar 2019 17:31:54 +0000https://artiholics.com/?p=14784The United States Postal Services (USPS) announced that it will commemorate the influential abstract artist Ellsworth Kelly with a set of postage stamps slated to go on sale in 2019. Kelly was an American painter, sculptor and print maker associated with hard-edge painting. He passed away in 2015 and 4 years later, his works will …

The United States Postal Services (USPS) announced
that it will commemorate the influential abstract artist Ellsworth Kelly with a
set of postage stamps slated to go on sale in 2019. Kelly was an American
painter, sculptor and print maker associated with hard-edge painting. He passed
away in 2015 and 4 years later, his works will soon be printed on postage
stamps.

The stamps are the work of Derry Noyes, an art director of the United States Postal Service. Noyes has been creating tributes to some of the biggest names in American Art and Design including: Georgia O’Keeffe, Isamu Noguchi and Ray Eames among many others. Kelly’s works are now among those that Noyes commemorated on postage stamps. Kelly’s works come as a unique package because they provide a rare chance of getting to know how the whole process of creating stamps works. What are the legal issues? What process should be followed? Do all types of artworks qualify to be printed in a postage stamp?

Photo Courtesy of United States Postal Service

The Citizen Stamp Advisory Committee (CSAC) is crucial in this process. It is composed of a 12 person-panel who include: historians, educators, designers and others who determine the subjects for each year’s crop of stamps. The goal of this committee is to pick a broad spectrum that reflects American History, pop culture, people and events and at the same time try to create a good balance for each year.

Photo Courtesy of United States Postal Service

Noyes said
that usually abstract art is hard to sell for the CSAC but for Kelly, the approval
process was easy because they were a good fit. She said, “This art is so well
suited for stamps. It reduces down beautifully. The simplicity of the forms and
the bright colors and the crispness of it all, it’s just made for stamp size. For
an artwork to suit for printing on stamps, it should not lose its beauty once
it is reduced down and for Kelly’s work that quality was just but an added
advantage.

Apart from the CSAC’s input on the stamp and the ability of the work to reduce beautifully on a stamp, it is also important to see how the individual stamps work together while on a sheet. Is there a dialogue between them? Do they all seem like they are telling the same story? This is a very important factor in printing stamps.

Photo Courtesy of United States Postal Service

Legal issues are everywhere; the legal processes
must be followed and they too apply in creating stamps. Noyes said that gaining
legal approval to use particular images is a process that has gotten trickier
over the years. However, for Kelly’s work, the process was a bit easier; Kelly’s
husband who is also the director of Ellsworth Kelly Foundation Jack Shear
granted the permission needed to use images. Noyes said,” We didn’t have to go
through the layers and layers of different estates and different families.”

The more you work on something, the more you gain experience from it and learn different things. Noyes developed a sixth sense for identifying artworks that are stamp-friendly and those that are not.

Photo Courtesy of United States Postal Service

The stamp making process lasts between two and four
years but can take longer depending on the legal issues at hand. During the process
of creating Kelly’s postage stamps, the four USPS art directors met monthly to
discuss their ongoing projects and critique each other’s work. Eventually, they
share their work with the CSAC to see if they like the direction. The committee
eventually votes to approve the final stamp designs which then must be approved
by the postmaster general before they can be released.

According to Noyes working like a team is better, she said that,” Unlike a fine artist working for him or herself, doing whatever they feel like, this is a real team effort.” Noyes continues to put famous artworks into stamps and Kelly’s works will never be forgotten.

]]>https://artiholics.com/2019/03/01/derry-noyes-turns-kellys-artworks-into-stamps/feed/0MICHAEL HEIZER MOVES A 340-TON BOULDER ACROSS LAhttps://artiholics.com/2019/02/25/michael-heizer-moves-a-340-ton-boulder-across-l-a/
https://artiholics.com/2019/02/25/michael-heizer-moves-a-340-ton-boulder-across-l-a/#respondMon, 25 Feb 2019 19:35:44 +0000https://artiholics.com/?p=14747Michael Heizer is a site-contemporary artist specializing in large scale and site-specific sculptures. He has re-defined sculpture in terms of size, mass, gesture and process. His idea for sculpture came to him in 1969 when he discovered a 120-ton boulder in the mountains adjacent to his property and thought it would be a great view …

Michael Heizer is a
site-contemporary artist specializing in large scale and site-specific sculptures.
He has re-defined sculpture in terms of size, mass, gesture and process. His
idea for sculpture came to him in 1969 when he discovered a 120-ton boulder in
the mountains adjacent to his property and thought it would be a great view for
visitors passing underneath it.

Heizer planned to bore
a long, sepulchral channel and place the boulder; this would allow the visitors
to walk underneath it and have a view of the giant rock from its underside and give
them an incredible encounter. The work was then to be titled, “Levitated Mass.”
However the efforts to do so failed after the crane that was used to move the
boulder broke its neck. Due to lack of funds for a larger and stronger crane,
the efforts remained unfulfilled for over 40 years.

Since then, Heizer became prolific; he created a body of work that dealt with both scale and negative/positive relationships in countless ways. This is most-notable in his greatest and well-known work the “Double Negative (1969-1970). The work he created is an outdoor intervention that can be seen via satellite. In order to make it, Heizer cut two 50-foot deep lines into the earth, displacing some 240,000 tons of rock in the process. The sculpture is 1,500 feet long, which is a bit longer than the Empire State Building lain on its side.

Levitate Mass, Photo Courtesy of Frank Fujimoto, via Flickr

Despite failing in his
efforts to move the 120-ton boulder in 1969, Heizer still wanted to give it a
try and this time round succeed if he got another chance. So long as there is
an effort to try something, chances always come up and in 2007 Heizer was given
yet another chance; he received a call from a Quarry outside of riverside,
California. They had found a beautiful rock and they thought he would be
interested in it. The rock weighed 340
tons and was two-stories tall.

The call was a total excitement to him and he immediately called Michal Govan, the director of Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), to tell him he had found the most beautiful rock ever and he wanted to move it to L.A. Govan was aware of Heizer’s failed efforts of a boulder in 1969 and he wanted to make this one a success. With support from LACMA, the sculpture could move but there was one major problem, getting the 680,000 pound rock to Los Angeles.

The boulder would have to travel 105 miles; through 4 counties and 22 cities in order to move it from California to Los Angeles. It was a hectic journey, it needed to be well-laid out. Heizer and his team needed to come up with a plan considering the fact that the boulder was too cumbersome to navigate sharp turns, too tall for many overpasses, too heavy for steep inclines and most highways. Such a journey meant a lot of permits that would include: every turn of the route, every streetlight, traffic signal, wire, underpass and overpass. Many of the traffic light poles would also have to be removed then replaced and each pole would take up to two hours. The process of permitting delayed the installation of the work by roughly six months.

Photo Courtesy of Bunnicula

LACMA hired Emmert
International, a company that specializes in moving extremely huge objects like
nuclear generators and missiles. The company built a 294 foot-long, with
206-wheel trailer, it would use 6 trucks which will all pull and push
simultaneously to ferry the rock to L.A.

The rock could only be
moved at night so as not to cause traffic. It gathered a lot of attention; tens
of thousands flocked to see it. A rock-themed festival was arranged in its
honor and amazingly a marriage proposal was made with the rock as its backdrop.
Residents of all zip codes along the route were granted free admission LACMA
for a period of time after the installation was completed.

The rock sits permanent
house now after travelling 11 nights designed to last 3,500 years according to
Heizer. The rock is said to be roughly 150million years old. It rests on a 456
foot-long channel that just as the original blueprints dictated, viewers are
encouraged to walk through so that they view the stone’s underbelly. The rock
vibrates with history, it brings us back to the 1960s when Heizer’s first installation
was conceived.

Heizer finally
succeeded to give visitors an incredible view while walking underneath a rock;
they can walk underneath a 680,000 pound stone unafraid of death.

]]>https://artiholics.com/2019/02/25/michael-heizer-moves-a-340-ton-boulder-across-l-a/feed/0What Happened To Designer Lagerfeld’s Art Collectionhttps://artiholics.com/2019/02/25/what-happened-to-designer-lagerfelds-art-collection/
https://artiholics.com/2019/02/25/what-happened-to-designer-lagerfelds-art-collection/#respondMon, 25 Feb 2019 14:51:16 +0000https://artiholics.com/?p=14761As an iconic fashion designer, memories of Karl Otto Lagerfeld will definitely live on for years to come. The late supreme designer was an interesting human, right from the way he presented himself. His trademark look which would never go unrecognizable, always included: dark glasses, high collars, fingerless gloves and his neatly made – white …

As an iconic fashion designer, memories of Karl Otto Lagerfeld will definitely live on for years to come. The late supreme designer was an interesting human, right from the way he presented himself. His trademark look which would never go unrecognizable, always included: dark glasses, high collars, fingerless gloves and his neatly made – white hair ponytail.

Photo Courtesy: Internet

Lagerfeld’s
success as a fashion designer is what most people remember him for. Until he
met his death, Lagerfeld was the
creative director of the ‘French Fashion House Chanel’ since 1983. He also
worked as the creative director of the ‘Italian fur and leather goods fashion
house Fendi’, as well as managed his own label”.

However, other than making quite an impact in the Fashion Industry, Lagerfeld is also remembered for his art collection.

As an art collector, Mr Lagerfeld was unsurpassable. He had it in him to identify quality work and acquire it by all means, for he would tell something of worth. He once said “It is clever to find something cheap and buy it because no one else sees how important it is. I bought a Steichen print for $3,000 dollars some time ago and recently it fetched $2.5 million.”

His art collecting was unquenchable. With obviously great taste, he spent lavishly on decorating his many houses. Lagerfeld fancied decorative arts of the 18th Century with a little touch of Prussian aesthetics.

Photo Courtesy: Internet

His love for art
collection would have him purchase art pieces at any cost; sculptures,
paintings, furniture eccetera eccetera at auction sales and galleries in London
and Paris. Much of his collection would be of royal provenance; Memphis
furniture designed by Ettore Sottsass, and contemporary design art by the likes
of Marc Newson.

These collection were sold as whole when he decided to move onto something new, a trend he was so much into.

In 2000, what was
thought of as a routine was suddenly put to a stop. The fashion designer
decided to sell all his collection. Lagerfeld said he was interested in trying
something new, with claims of been tired of the ‘Ancien
Régime’ style (around 15th Century France style of art) and wanted to
try the ‘Zen Baroque’ style (17th Century Italian style of art).
However, what would seem to be a more serious reason for his then change of art
collection style, could be a record tax bill of 200m francs (around €40m). It
is said that the fashion designer eluded paying tax with claims of living in
Monte Carlo, but he lived and worked almost everywhere but Monaco.

Christie’s Auction House sold 150 of Lagerfeld’s paintings, in New York and 400 pieces of furniture and art works in Monaco, for a sale which amounted to 150m francs (about €30m).

Photo Courtesy: Internet

Some of the things,
such as a four- poster bed which cost him a couple of millions did not sell.

In the art world, the German native designer, will also be remembered as big fan of Pop Art and Minimalism. He once challenged his audience’s intellect, imagination and emotional core by creating a crazy combo of Art and Fashion. “The idea came from people who overreact to art today. It’s all become a little too much,” Lagerfeld said.

Born on September 10th 1933, Lagerfeld died at the age of 85 on February 19th 2019.

]]>https://artiholics.com/2019/02/25/what-happened-to-designer-lagerfelds-art-collection/feed/0Mural Artist Pegasus Creates a Karl Lagerfeld Portrait Hours After His deathhttps://artiholics.com/2019/02/23/mural-artist-pegasus-creates-a-karl-lagerfeld-portrait-hours-after-his-death/
https://artiholics.com/2019/02/23/mural-artist-pegasus-creates-a-karl-lagerfeld-portrait-hours-after-his-death/#respondSat, 23 Feb 2019 19:39:51 +0000https://artiholics.com/?p=14696When someone influential or let’s say iconic passes on, what would be first thing you would do? Directing this same question to ‘Pegasus’, he would probably say “I would drop everything”, but not just for any iconic figure, for an iconic figure he sees as ‘superhuman’. But for what particular reason would he ‘drop everything’? …

When someone
influential or let’s say iconic passes on, what would be first thing you would
do? Directing this same question to ‘Pegasus’,
he would probably say “I would drop
everything”, but not just for any iconic figure, for an iconic figure he
sees as ‘superhuman’. But for what particular reason would he ‘drop everything’?

Mural artist Pegasus, known for celebrity murals of the like Madonna, “dropped everything” when he heard the news of Lagerfeld’s death and instead headed immediately to his studio and designed an art piece, now painted on a wall – on – Great Eastern Street Shoreditch in London. He worked on the piece from Tuesday noon until 2am on Wednesday, then returned to the studio at 8 am to finish it up.

Photo Courtesy: Internet

Photo Courtesy: Internet

Photo Courtesy: Internet

“When someone like
that dies you have to drop everything and pay tribute to them.” Said Pegasus. “I
know he’s quite a controversial figure but when I heard that he had passed, I
was actually heading to Belfast and I just kind of dropped everything and ran
to my studio.”

The mural which is a
portrait of the designer, Karl Lagerfeld, is mostly black and white, and has a signature
of one his famous lines “There is no
beauty without strangeness”.

Born on September 1933, the German born designer, Lagerfeld was widely known and recognized for his signature look – of black sunglasses, fingerless gloves, high detachable collars and his white ponytail. He died from pancreatic cancer on February 19th 2019.

Lagerfeld who live in Paris, was not only a fashion designer, but also an artist, photographer and caricaturist. Up until his death, he was the creative director of the ‘French Fashion House Chanel’ since 1983. He was also the creative director of the ‘Italian fur and leather goods fashion house Fendi’, and his own Fashion label.

Photo Courtesy: Internet

Photo Courtesy: Internet

Photo Courtesy: Internet

Photo Courtesy: Internet

Artist Pegasus says
the news of Lagerfeld’s death was a shock to him because he seemed like a
superhuman figure just like Michael Jackson was.

“There’s several people that have passed away and I’ve just been in total disbelief about, he said. “Michael Jackson was one of them because I thought I’d never see the day that he died, he didn’t even seem human, he was like superhuman and Karl Lagerfeld was also one of those types of people.”

He also pointed out that Pegasus was a trend setter, and that he loved his collections minus the fur collections. “I adored everything else apart from Lagerfeld’s fur collections. I thought he was a genius and just such an icon.”

]]>https://artiholics.com/2019/02/23/mural-artist-pegasus-creates-a-karl-lagerfeld-portrait-hours-after-his-death/feed/0THE “MOON PUZZLE” SELLS AT AN AUCTION FOR OVER $600Khttps://artiholics.com/2019/02/22/the-moon-puzzle-sells-at-an-auction-for-over-600k/
https://artiholics.com/2019/02/22/the-moon-puzzle-sells-at-an-auction-for-over-600k/#respondFri, 22 Feb 2019 09:57:05 +0000https://artiholics.com/?p=14712You would be surprised to know just how much money people/bidders are willing to spend in auctions. An auction is the process of buying and selling items by offering them for a bid then selling them to the highest bidder. Different items are sold at auctions, it could be livestock, used cars or even houses …

You would be surprised
to know just how much money people/bidders are willing to spend in auctions. An
auction is the process of buying and selling items by offering them for a bid
then selling them to the highest bidder. Different items are sold at auctions,
it could be livestock, used cars or even houses and pieces of artworks among
many other things. I don’t know how much is “too much” to spend on an auction
but all I know is that there are individuals and organizations that are willing
and actually spend millions of dollars on an item; so long as it is worth it
then, why not?

In auctions, the highest bidder gets to own the property. Different items have sold at auctions at unarguably high prices. For instance, when you look at auctions in the world of art, the Jean-Michel Basquiat’s skull painting sold for $110million, Andy Warhol’s Coca Cola painting sold for $105million and Edward Hopper’s painting “Chop Suey” sold for $92.9million among many other mentionable auctions.

“The lunar meteorite” Photo courtesy of internet

A 12pound (5.5kg) chunk
of the moon that fell to the earth as a lunar meteorite was sold for more than
$600,000 at an auction which ran from October 11-18 2018. The rare rock,
classified as NWA 11789 and unofficially called “The Moon Puzzle,” is comprised
of six fragments which fit together like a puzzle.

The winning bid came from a representative working with the Tam Chu Pagoda complex in Ha Nam Province, Vietnam for $612, 500, surpassing the expected rate of $500,000 by the Boston-based RR Auction. In a news release, the Executive Vice President at RR Auction said, “We are extremely happy and thrilled that this magnificent lunar meteorite will be proudly displayed at this beautiful facility and this “Moon Puzzle” will certainly inspire students of science and generations to come.”

The six fragments of the lunar meteorite, Photo Courtesy of internet

The meteorite was found
last year in a remote area of Mauritania North West Africa and is considered to
be one of the most significant lunar meteorites ever found because of its large
size. It also has “partial fusion crust” caused by the tremendous heat that
sears the rock as it falls to the earth.

The CEO of Aerolite
meteorites Geoff Notkin said, “It is one of the larger lunar meteorites ever
found, there’s never been one like this and we call it a lunar puzzle.’’

The “Moon puzzle” is
however not the first moon rock to make its way back to earth. In 2007, one of
the largest lunar meteorites ever found was discovered in Morocco weighing
11.5kgs (25pounds). In 2012, Heritage auctions offered what is said was then
the largest chunk of moon rock weighing 1.8kgs (4pounds).

]]>https://artiholics.com/2019/02/22/the-moon-puzzle-sells-at-an-auction-for-over-600k/feed/0M WELLS DINETTE EATERY AT MOMA PS1 SET TO CLOSE DOWNhttps://artiholics.com/2019/02/20/m-wells-dinette-eatery-at-moma-ps1-set-to-close-down/
https://artiholics.com/2019/02/20/m-wells-dinette-eatery-at-moma-ps1-set-to-close-down/#respondWed, 20 Feb 2019 19:25:22 +0000https://artiholics.com/?p=14612We go to restaurants to dine, wine and of course get to catch up with our family and friends. We go there with the hope of enjoying a delicious meal and leave with a smile on our faces and a lot of contentment too! Restaurants differ in size, location and interior design but there is …

We go to restaurants to dine, wine and of course get to catch up with our family and friends. We go there with the hope of enjoying a delicious meal and leave with a smile on our faces and a lot of contentment too!

Restaurants differ in size, location and interior design but there is nothing really extra-ordinary in most of them because the point is to offer the best services to clients. However, the M Wells Dinette, is an extra-ordinary eatery joint in New York. It is located inside the MoMA PS1 museum, one of the largest art institutions in the United States dedicated solely to contemporary art. Yes, a restaurant inside a museum.

Its space is unique because it is designed to look like a classroom with desk-like tables and complete chalkboards. The acclaimed restaurant serves you both food and lots of artworks and it is home to the a steakhouse offering friendly, delicious and exciting dining options. It was opened by Hugue Dufour and Serah Obraitis, serving dishes like seared frog legs and carbonara sandwich which featured spaghetti on a bun.

Photo courtesy of internet

Photo courtesy of internet

Photo courtesy of internet

Photo courtesy of internet

After opening the dinette, the two proprietors also opened a more upscale meaty restaurant called M Wells Steakhouse in 2013.

Sadly, the M Wells Dinette, is closing its doors at the end of this month after serving its residents for more than six years. It will close down on the same day that marks the end of the exhibition that is currently being held in it, the Bruce Nauman retrospective. Bruce is one of the most experimental and influential American artist of his generation with more than sixty works including walk-in-environments, video installations, neons, sculptural objects and sound pieces.

Photo courtesy of internet

Photo courtesy of internet

Photo courtesy of internet

Photo courtesy of internet

The dinette opened in 2012 after the original M Wells closed down operations in an old diner in Queens. It has been a must-visit place for the visitors of the MoMA museum. The restaurant through an email expressed its sentiments saying, ‘‘Mike Kelley, Maria Lassnig, Cao Fei, Wael Shawkey and Mark Leckey are artists we especially adored, and of course Bruce Nauman, our current master of MoMA PS1, for whom it has been a complete pleasure hosting and feeding.’’

The M Wells Dinette lives to be one of the most unique restaurants in New York City, serving both food and art.

]]>https://artiholics.com/2019/02/20/m-wells-dinette-eatery-at-moma-ps1-set-to-close-down/feed/0The MET Museum Hosts an Exhibit Dedicated to Rock Music Instrumentshttps://artiholics.com/2019/02/20/the-met-museum-hosts-an-exhibit-dedicated-to-rock-music-instruments/
https://artiholics.com/2019/02/20/the-met-museum-hosts-an-exhibit-dedicated-to-rock-music-instruments/#respondWed, 20 Feb 2019 19:19:43 +0000https://artiholics.com/?p=14624What genre of music do you love listening to? Music might not be your preference, maybe you would rather watch a movie or swim or read a book. Well, we all have different preferences and personally music is a favorite, I listen to almost all genres so long as I get to love it, from …

What genre of music do you love listening to? Music might not be your preference, maybe you would rather watch a movie or swim or read a book. Well, we all have different preferences and personally music is a favorite, I listen to almost all genres so long as I get to love it, from Rhythm and Blues to rock music to Hip-hop name them. Music helps relax my mind, brings out my deepest feelings and sometimes it boosts my morale when I’m doing things that I don’t really enjoy doing like folding laundry or doing the dishes. While in traffic music is also such a good company; with my earphones on, my playlist ready and the artists doing what they do best I will almost forget that I’m stuck in traffic.

Rock is one of the most unique and popular genres of music. It originated as “rock & roll” in the United states in the early 1950s and developed into a range of different styles. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s, a style which drew heavily on the genres such as rhythm and blues, electric blues, folk and country music.

The late Chuck Berry; Photo Courtesy of internet

The late Elvis Presley perfoming; Photo Courtesy of internet

Photo Courtesy of internet

Photo Courtesy of internet

Typical instruments used to create rock music are electric guitars, bass guitars, keyboards and the vocals. Rock music is basically all about feeling and moving to it. Elvis Presley a rock musician once said, “Rock and roll music, if you like it, if you feel it, you can’t help but move to it. That’s what happens to me. I can’t help it.”As much as the vocals are important in this particular genre of music, I tend to believe that instruments are everything in rock music; the guitars and the keyboard are the “heart” of this music.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art will be hosting an exhibit called “Play it loud: Instruments of rock and roll. This will be the first major exhibition dedicated to rock music instruments. The exhibit is set to feature 130 different musical instruments used by some of the “big names” in the rock music industry from Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley, the Beatles and the Rolling stone among others.

Photo Courtesy of internet

Photo Courtesy of internet

Photo Courtesy of internet

Photo Courtesy of internet

The instruments were gathered from 70 private and
public collections in the United States and in The United Kingdom. The exhibit
will span from 1939 to 2017, featuring Hendrix’s “Flying V” guitar, Eric
Clapton’s “Blackie,” Jerry Garcia’s “Wolf,” Chuck Berry’s main guitar from 1957
to 1963, St. Vincent’s 2015 electric guitars, Keith Moon’s “Pictures of Lily”
drumset and Keith Emerson’s Moog synthesizer and Hammond Organ.

The rock instruments exhibition will start on April
1st 2019 up until October 1st 2019. It will later make the
permanent move to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. This is going to
be a totally different kind of exhibition aside from the normal exhibition of
paintings, sculptors, drawings and photography among others, this time round
the MET museum is bringing to you the “tools of rock music.” You will get to
see the instruments that are responsible for your moves.

]]>https://artiholics.com/2019/02/20/the-met-museum-hosts-an-exhibit-dedicated-to-rock-music-instruments/feed/0FOR THE SECOND TIME DESERT X BRINGS CONTEMPORARY ART IN COACHELLA VALLEYhttps://artiholics.com/2019/02/18/for-the-second-time-desert-x-brings-contemporary-art-in-coachella-valley/
https://artiholics.com/2019/02/18/for-the-second-time-desert-x-brings-contemporary-art-in-coachella-valley/#respondTue, 19 Feb 2019 04:20:09 +0000https://artiholics.com/?p=14582Desert X is a site-specific, contemporary art exhibition that is held in the Coachella Valley in Southern California. It came into existence with a different idea, a unique idea, of bringing together art and Southern California’s road trip tradition and turning the Coachella Valley into an open-air art gallery. Contrary to the modern day exhibition …

Desert X is a site-specific, contemporary art exhibition that is held in the Coachella Valley in Southern California. It came into existence with a different idea, a unique idea, of bringing together art and Southern California’s road trip tradition and turning the Coachella Valley into an open-air art gallery. Contrary to the modern day exhibition of artworks where you can find different types of artworks all under one roof, the Desert X exhibition is normally outdoors and takes place once every two years.

Although the Coachella Valley is a source of inspiration for artists seeking to create large-scale works that exist outside the typical gallery space, artists also have to consider the intense sun, extreme changes in temperature and violent winds experienced in the desert. It requires patience, cars, maps, GPS and the knowledge that you won’t see every piece of artwork in just one day.

The first edition of art biennial Desert X took place in 2017 from February 25-April 3oth and had works spread across the Coachella Valley. While putting together the exhibition, director Neville Wakefield and the curatorial team Amanda Hunt and Matthew Schum sought artists who were willing to engage with and respond to the specific history of the Coachella Valley and not just its beauty. The edition attracted more than 200,000 people including collectors, artists and museum groups. It showed works from artists such as Doug Aitken, Jennifer Bolande, Claudia Comte, Jeffrey Gibson and Glenn Kaino among many other recognized contemporary artists.

The highly anticipated 2nd edition of Desert X touched down on February 9th, 2019 and will run through to April 21st 2019 with works from 18 artists selected by artistic director and co-curators. The show also includes a work of art “Shybot” by Norma Jeane which got lost during the first edition of Desert X and was found by a local maintenance worker. This edition is expected to be even bigger and better and for the second time it will again activate California’s desert landscape through site-specific installations by renowned international contemporary artists.

The artists participating in this year’s art festival include: Jenny Holzer, Mary Kelly, Ivan Argote and Sterling Ruby among many others. Jenny Holzer, known for her text-centric installations will present “Before I Became Afraid,” a piece addressing gin violence, with poetry projected on the mountain landscape. Mary Kelly will be showing “Peace is the only shelter” Ivan Argote will be presenting “A point of view” and Sterling Ruby will be showing “Specter.”

Mary Kelly, “Peace is the only shelter” Photo Courtesy of Desert X 2019

Sterling Ruby “Specter” Photo Courtesy of Desert X 2019

Visiting the Desert X is absolutely free and self-guided with
maps of the artworks available at various locations and online. It is going to
be so amazing to have double fun; go on a drive or walk and to have more than
just a glimpse of different artworks and for the selfie-lovers, why not capture
a moment or two?

]]>https://artiholics.com/2019/02/18/for-the-second-time-desert-x-brings-contemporary-art-in-coachella-valley/feed/0Police Force Way into a Museum After Mistaking a Mannequin for a Corpsehttps://artiholics.com/2019/02/17/police-force-way-into-a-museum-after-mistaking-a-mannequin-for-a-corpse/
https://artiholics.com/2019/02/17/police-force-way-into-a-museum-after-mistaking-a-mannequin-for-a-corpse/#respondSun, 17 Feb 2019 11:28:24 +0000https://artiholics.com/?p=14631Any career or profession is just as important as the other, the point is that we do what we love and love what we do. Put our knowledge and skills to practice. Personally, I have so much respect for ‘our men in uniform’, the police. The fact that they take risks for others’ sake cannot …

Any career or profession is just as important as the other, the point is that we do what we love and love what we do. Put our knowledge and skills to practice.

Personally, I have so much respect for ‘our men in uniform’, the police. The fact that they take risks for others’ sake cannot go unnoticed or unrecognized. It is not just because it is their responsibility to guarantee us safety and security, but their dedication to it matters just as much. This field of profession just like any other has shortcomings. We could say, not every single officer is committed to their work but truth is a good number are. ‘You hit them up on their hotline number and boom! They show up for inspection on whatever it is.’

They face challenges as well, amongst them are the so many prank calls and raised-false-alarms, but, they say ‘police is your friend, so if you notice anything suspicious, do not fail to report’.

Now a recent incident of police officers forcing
their way into a London Art Gallery took place right after they had received a
report of a suspected corpse in the building. Cameras at the Factory Art
Gallery in Dalston show the officers breaking through the glass door and then approaching
a figure suspected to be a dead body just near a tied rope hanging from a
ceiling. After quick inspection, they then discovered that the ‘corpse’ was
actually a mannequin made out of paper and wires wrapped in clothes.

A police spokesperson confirmed that the officers and paramedics responded to the witness report of the suspected corpse at the gallery, “Officers and LAS attended the scene. Officers were required to force entry inside. Upon inspection, the person turned out to be a figurine constructed from clothing and wires and was part of an art installation.”

Photo Courtesy: Internet

The camera footage shows the police officers’
arrival circa 7 am on Tuesday, and after a few attempts to force the glass door
open, they opt to break their way in using a crowbar. One officer is seen
approaching the said corpse and rummaging through it, leaving, then other officers
and a paramedic are seen walking in it to check as well.

The involved mannequin belongs to 36 year old Kollier
Din Bangura, and was as a matter of fact part of his exhibition on the
experiences of refugees who settle in Britain. The artist says he has used the mannequin
in other showcases before but was yet to have witnessed such an incident. “I have used the same
dummy before in other shows but this is the first time it’s caused police to be
called” said Bangura. “When I came to the studio and saw the smashed glass, I immediately
thought it had been vandalised. But the police left a note behind explaining
what happened.”

The handwritten note reads, “Police forced entry by smashing the window
due to getting calls from members of the public regarding a dead body inside
the building. If you have any issues please write to the Commissioner of the
Metropolitan Police.”

Mr Bangura added, “It’s a mistake by a member of the public who has seen it through the window when they are walking past. Or it could even be a prank by someone who wants to sabotage my work. But fair play to the police, they broke in and if it was really someone wanting to hang themselves they gave themselves a chance at saving them.”

He however notes that there
were posters on each door, indicating than art exhibition was taking place and regrets
why they did not look at them and contact the owner of the building before
breaking in.